June 18, 2008

When I die, please recycle my body. En serio. Of course, I’m an organ donor, blood donor, plasma donor. I’m on the bone marrow registry, and I’ve taken the long arduous 4 years to grow out my unruly, curly hair for Locks of Love – 3 times!

Am I the world’s do-gooder? No lo creas. I’m way too lazy for that. Really, how hard it is it to NOT go to the salon?

What I am is a Latina in a world full of Latinas y Latinos under-represented in the medical field. There are over 42 million Hispanics in the US. While Hispanics are less likely than white Americans to develop and die from lung, breast, prostate and colon cancer, a study by the Heart Association found that Type 2 diabetes has reached epidemic proportions. And, a 2003 study found that Hispanics, who comprised 13 percent of the U.S. population at the time, accounted for 20 percent of those living with AIDS.

Did you know that currently less than 6 cents out of each health dollar spent in the U.S. goes for research to improve health? How much of that do you think goes to research on Latinos?

We know there are genetic differences among ethnicities, differences which encode any number of diseases. While we represent 17% of those needing bone marrow transplants (and 17% of the overall population), only 8.7% of potential blood marrow donors self-identify as Hispanic. Face it, amigos, we’re quickly becoming a non-minority, but medically, there’s a disproportionately small amount of medical info on us in the US.

So, when I die, harvest what organs you can. Pop out my eyeballs if anyone will have my depth-perception challenged, near-sighted, baby browns, and send the rest of me off to the nearest research center.

Medical schools like at Stanford, University of Texas-San Antonio, University of New Mexico and University of Miami, some of the top medical schools for Hispanics , use donated cadavers to their willed-body programs for research and for instruction. Many medical schools post memoriam for donors, encouraging medical students and the family of the dearly departed to celebrate the valuable life and death of the bagged, tagged, sliced and diced deceased.

What, me preguntas, does this have to do with QueVerde? Wouldn’t composting my meaty parts be better for the environment?

First, burial plots average 3.5 feet wide by 8 feet long. That’s a nice bit of land to bury a body. The body is so filled with chemicals and encased in a protective casket that it takes decades for it to return to the earth. The hearse and all those mourners in the procession are using valuable and EXPENSIVE fuel, not to mention the wasted resources of water and fertilizer for the cemetery lawn, the wasted wood for the casket, and the waste of a perfectly good pair of black heels and slinky skirt -- all my black is slinky, of course.

Let’s say, instead, that I’m cremated. It takes 15kWh of electricity on average to blast a body to dust -- toxic dust full of mercury and other contaminants. That’s roughly equivalent to the energy used by a single person for an entire month or as much as it takes to drive 4,800 miles!

Given the wasted resources with either burials or cremations, donating your body in its entirety doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. If you’re interested, go to the body donation section of LivingBank.org (http://www.livingbank.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Whole_Body_Donation) for more information. LivingBank.org even has a section in Spanish.

So there you have it. You need me, or rather my body, to keep you healthy. And, I’m doing the environment a big favor. Anyone want to join me?

Whether
we realize it or not, the green movement is certain to influence, if
not direct, our lives and our businesses. Having grappled with
environmental issues for more than 30 years in the packaging industry,
I am convinced that our response to them is now central to success - or
failure - in business. Yet, because the environmental debate is filled
with confusion, contradiction, and even deception, many business
leaders, out of sheer frustration, are prone to ignore it or jump to
dangerous conclusions. I will try to bring some clarity to the debate
by pointing out the five most serious misconceptions about going green.
As you come to understand the facts, I believe you will see how
important it is to implement a green strategy for your business.

Misconception #1 -- This environmental interest will pass.No,
it will not. There are many reasons why this issue is here to stay but
one of the most obvious is that this issue is generational. We Baby
Boomers generally have mild eco interest, the Gen X population is much
more involved and concerned, and the Mllenials age group is downright
passionate about it. Consider also the pervasiveness of green
initiatives among leading Fortune 500 firms, and you will see that we
are witnessing a true and enormous paradigm shift, not a passing fancy.

Misconception #2 – Environmental concern does not really affect my business.As the eco conscience population grows at an incredible rate, understand that your company, your products, and even the way you do business are being scrutinized by the people with whom you hope to do business. If you are not familiar with terms such as sustainable, cradle to cradle, and carbon footprint, you should be, because your customers are. All other things being equal, customers will do business with companies that are green versus ones that are not. Today, green is the ultimate tie breaker in business.

Misconception#3 – Our employees don’t care about green.Recent surveys indicate that over half of all consumers will factor in the sustainability and earth friendliness of a product or service when they make a purchasing decision. Since your employees are also consumers, it is safe to assume that more than half of them are becoming “eco believers” even if they are not sharing their thoughts and opinions with you and your management. As a result, a positive and proactive green position builds loyalty not only among customers, but within your own work force.

Misconception #4 -- Going green adds cost.Even though most of us run small to medium size businesses, we can learn much from watching what the large companies do. Though they may have gone green for non-economic reasons, they have discovered that green is good for the bottom line. If approached properly, becoming more sustainable in our practices, including but not limited to packaging, can dramatically reduce material, operational, freight and even labor costs. The large CPG (consumer products goods) manufacturers may be concerned about their long term impact on the environment but ultimately they are driven by earnings. Large companies would not be investing in green practices unless they were profitable.

Misconception #5 – Technology has not yet caught up to green market demands.For many years that was true but I can tell you that in the packaging industry new, more eco friendly products and process enhancements are appearing on an almost daily basis. Watch a few minutes of television or surf the internet and you will see many companies touting their latest developments and response to this market’s demands. Even small companies like mine are adding new product lines and expanding our list of services in an effort to become more responsive to customer needs. At a time of economic uncertainty, global competition, and rising costs, we business owners need every edge we can possibly gain. I encourage you to listen to what the market and world are saying – green is in and it is here to stay.

Dennis Salazar is the president and founder of Salazar Packaging, Inc., a certified MBE company specializing in packaging products, equipment and solutions. You can contact Dennis or learn more about sustainable packaging solutions through his website: www.SalazarPackaging.com

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